Lan Xiaobu let the bearded man leave first, effectively helping him once. The reason he aided the bearded man was that he had sensed the telepathic message sent to him by the quasi-sage fourth-layer cultivator. Though the contents of the message weren’t entirely clear, Lan Xiaobu could guess it involved some trickery during their trade.
Yet the bearded man hadn’t followed the quasi-sage’s scheme and instead handed over the item willingly. This sparked some goodwill in Lan Xiaobu, so he let the bearded man go first.
A quasi-sage at the fourth layer was certainly beyond the bearded man’s ability to defeat. But in Lan Xiaobu’s eyes, it was merely a matter of one extra punch.
“Fellow Daoist Tu, I’ll be off too. Until we meet again,” Lan Xiaobu said. Having obtained the Fire Origin Pearl, he had no intention of lingering here. He needed to leave quickly and find a place to advance his flame.
In the Abyssal Relic, there was a figure named Min Yuan who had likely stepped into the quasi-sage realm. Min Yuan was far stronger than Nuo Yisheng, and if he too was at quasi-sage perfection, then upgrading his Longevity Halberd would give Lan Xiaobu an extra edge.
“Oh, oh… alright, alright…” Tu Xuping stood up, stammering in agreement.
He now realised Lan Xiaobu was no ordinary figure. How else could someone produce so many treasures and snatch the Fire Origin Pearl from a quasi-sage’s grasp?
“Thanks again for today, Fellow Daoist Tu.” Lan Xiaobu offered another word of gratitude before turning and swiftly departing.
Steward Fu frowned as he watched Lan Xiaobu leave. No matter how he looked at it, Lan Xiaobu seemed to be putting on an act—hardly resembling a cultivator above the Harmony God realm. Besides, would a Harmony God cultivator serve as a trading disciple for another Harmony God?
Seeing that both quasi-sages had already left, Steward Fu immediately sent out several messages.
Only after dispatching these did he notice that seven or eight people had slipped out of the trading hall—all at least at the late Harmony God stage.
…
Lan Xiaobu moved swiftly. After exiting the Nirvana Merchant Tower, he quickly left Nirvana Divine City. He didn’t summon the Reincarnation Pot—if he had, those Harmony Gods and quasi-sages chasing him would only eat his dust.
To Lan Xiaobu, even mosquito meat was still meat, and sometimes it came with big surprises. Take his earlier killing of Nuo Yisheng: he hadn’t expected anything valuable from him, yet he’d gained the Reincarnation Dao Scroll.
In Lan Xiaobu’s view, the Reincarnation Dao Scroll wasn’t even the most precious loot from Nuo Yisheng. That honour went to the crystal ball.
The words of the Reincarnation Sage within the crystal ball held true value: “Sainthood isn’t in the Nine Revolutions, but in the Dao.” This gave him direction in his cultivation, sharpening his understanding of the Nine-Revolution Sage. Clearly, Nuo Yisheng and San Guo were small fry, but the Reincarnation Sage was a formidable figure.
Such insight was beyond even Zhu Sun, who, despite his seniority—perhaps exceeding the Reincarnation Sage—had been a shut-in tinkerer. Without the Cosmic Dimensional Model, he’d be nothing.
An hour later, just as Lan Xiaobu left the outskirts of Nirvana Divine City, three figures swiftly intercepted him.
Of the trio blocking him, two were Harmony Gods at the seventh layer, and one was a quasi-sage at the first layer. It was obvious the quasi-sage had brought the two Harmony Gods to ensure Lan Xiaobu didn’t escape.
Lan Xiaobu swept his divine sense over the perimeter, sighing, “You didn’t say a word earlier, so I thought you were an honest sort. Now I see you’re the real schemer.”
Clearly, this quasi-sage first-layer cultivator feared the quasi-sage fourth-layer would take Lan Xiaobu’s loot and leave him with nothing. By intercepting Lan Xiaobu first, even if the fourth-layer quasi-sage arrived, they’d share the spoils. If he could deal with Lan Xiaobu quickly, it’d all be his. If the fourth-layer caught up in time, they’d split it; if not, he’d keep it all.
The two Harmony Gods were likely scouts or blockers.
Lan Xiaobu was about to retract his divine sense when he detected another presence at its edge. He sneered—seems the quasi-sage fourth-layer had arrived early, lurking to play the fisherman’s game. No, wait—several more auras approached from different directions, hiding at a distance.
It seemed plenty of people coveted his haul. He wondered if, after this fight, he’d get a chance for another round or two.
“Attack,” the quasi-sage first-layer said, ignoring Lan Xiaobu. With a shout, his quasi-sage domain erupted, and a red longsword thrust out from within it, locking the surrounding space with killing intent aimed at Lan Xiaobu.
Perhaps to him, the key wasn’t the potency of his killing technique but ensuring Lan Xiaobu couldn’t escape.
The two Harmony Gods flanked left and right. Though they didn’t strike immediately, their Harmony God domains sealed off Lan Xiaobu’s retreat.
Lan Xiaobu sighed. His Longevity Halberd swept up a wave of dark radiance. The next moment, the quasi-sage first-layer’s expression shifted.
He was, after all, a quasi-sage first-layer powerhouse, yet his domain couldn’t withstand Lan Xiaobu’s halberd radiance for even half a breath before shattering cleanly. To this Harmony God cultivator, his quasi-sage domain was a joke.
A terrifying aura of death bore down. How could this quasi-sage not realise Lan Xiaobu’s strength outclassed his by countless levels?
Time to run. Fear gripped him, and his momentum faltered further.
Lan Xiaobu’s halberd tore through space, crashing down overwhelmingly.
“Pfft!” A spray of blood erupted. The quasi-sage’s brow split open, his head dissolving into a misty gore.
Lan Xiaobu blinked. That was almost too easy. But he soon realised he’d been sparring with sages, pseudo-sages, and quasi-sage perfectionists all along.
A quasi-sage first-layer like this, with incomplete comprehension of the Charm of the Dao, was weaker than some Harmony God perfectionists in the Longevity Realm. Compared to Nuo Yisheng, whom he’d killed, this was a far cry.
The two Harmony Gods’ domains had just sealed Lan Xiaobu’s path when they saw him obliterate the quasi-sage’s head with one strike. Terror seized them—how could they dare linger to block him?
But as they turned to flee, Lan Xiaobu’s halberd swung towards one of them.
His potent Harmony God domain merged with the Longevity Halberd’s killing domain, trapping the cultivator with no chance to break free. Another strike, and his head exploded. His nascent soul barely emerged before Lan Xiaobu shredded it to bits.
The last Harmony God had broken free of Lan Xiaobu’s domain, frantically casting forbidden techniques. Yet his heart trembled with dread—he knew if Lan Xiaobu pursued, his odds of escape were slim to none.
Lan Xiaobu could have caught him but chose not to. Instead, he returned to the quasi-sage pinned by his domain, his hand gestures weaving rapidly.
He hadn’t yet destroyed this quasi-sage’s remnant soul. He needed to unlock the man’s world in the shortest time possible, or the chance would slip away.
Space rippled under Lan Xiaobu’s gestures, laws intertwining. In moments, a crack appeared. With a pull of his hands, he tore open a sealed world.
Inside were five top-grade divine spirit veins and over twenty high-grade ones. A heap of high-grade divine crystals numbered in the hundreds of millions. There were also top-tier divine herbs and crafting materials.
But none of that caught Lan Xiaobu’s eye. What did was an unassuming jade box. He swept everything into his Cosmic Dimensional Model, holding the box in hand. Opening it revealed an Earth Origin Pearl.
Well, well—no wonder this guy wanted the Fire Origin Pearl. He had grand ambitions, aiming to gather the Five Elements Origin Pearls to perfect his world. Too bad his strength didn’t match his dreams. This wasn’t robbery—it was a gift delivery.
With the loot secured, Lan Xiaobu spat a flame, reducing the quasi-sage to ash. The Harmony God he’d incinerated earlier left no world to open.
Sweeping his divine sense again, he found the quasi-sage fourth-layer gone. Not just him—those lurking Harmony Gods had vanished too.
“Guess you ran fast. Otherwise, I might’ve snagged another Origin Pearl,” Lan Xiaobu muttered.
With the Earth Origin Pearl in hand, he figured the quasi-sage fourth-layer had similar Five Elements ambitions.
A flame consumed the two bodies, and Lan Xiaobu decisively summoned the Reincarnation Pot. He was off to the Abyssal Relic. Time to advance to quasi-sage.
His strength let him run rampant here, but in the Longevity Realm, he’d never dare flaunt or buy Origin Pearls so boldly.
